Forensic Science: Crime on File #5: John Wayne Gacy
Identifying a Serial Killer's Victims
The worst serial killer in America calmly admitted his guilt as he led investigators to a crawl space under his house. There, John Wayne Gacy had buried twenty-eight young men, after brutally raping and murdering them in cold blood. Because no identification was found with the bodies, the police were forced to examine missing person reports for leads. However, these boys and men where so alike in age, race, and stature that the police were unable to make individual identifications for most of the victims. Clyde Snow, the world-renowned forensic anthropologist from Oklahoma, was asked to help the investigators make these difficult identifications.
Snow began by making a thirty-five point examination of each skull for comparison to known individuals. By examining each skeleton, he made sure each bone was correctly attributed to an individual. This was crucial to later efforts because some of the victims had been buried on top of older graves, mingling their remains. Once Snow was sure all the bones were sorted properly, he began his in-depth study. Long bones such as the femur (thigh bone) were used to estimate each individual's height. This helped narrow the search when attempting to match the victims with the descriptions of missing people.
After narrowing the possibilities to missing people fitting the general description, investigators consulted potential victims' hospital and dental records.Evidence of injury, illness, surgery, and other unique skeletal defects were used to make identifications. Snow also pointed out features that gave clues to the victim's behavior and medical history. For example, he discovered that one of Gacy's victims had an old fracture of his left arm, and that his left scapula (shoulder blade) and arm bore the telltale signs of a left-handed individual. These details were matched to a missing person report and another young victim was identified.
For the most difficult cases, Snow called in the help of forensic sculptor and facial reconstructionist Betty Pat Gatliff. She used clay and depth markers to put the flesh back on the faces of these forgotten boys in the hopes that someone would recognize them after their photographs were released to the media. Her efforts were successful, but investigators found some families unwilling to accept the idea that their loved ones were among Gacy's victims. Even with Gatliff's help, nine of Gacy's victims remain unidentified.
John Wayne Gacy (Killings between 1972 and 1978)
A respected member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, a precinct captain in the local Democratic party, the owner of a contracting business and a performing joker at children’s parties, John Wayne Gacy seemed as normal as they come.
He came to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.
Modus Operandi
Gacy lured his victims into handcuffs in the pretext of showing them a pair of trick handcuffs he used in his clown act. He’d then dare the youth to free themselves. Once the boys were handcuffed, he would use either a rope or a board across their throats to kill them while he raped them.
Background
Gacy was born into a blue-collar family in 1942 and had two sisters. His father was an abusive alcoholic who verbally and physically abused his children. Gacy deeply loved his father and strived to please him, but failed.
He had the ability to persuade an manipulate people, likely because of how normal and harmless he seemed on the outside. He later got married and had two kids of his own, but his wife left him when he was arrested for trying to coerce a fellow employee into homosexual acts.
Another thing to note is that he injured his head by falling off a swing when he was 11 years old. He suffered from blackouts until he was 16, and then was diagnosed with a blood clot and the condition was corrected.
Killings and Sentence
When Gacy realized that police were about to arrest him, he surrendered himself. He told them, “There are four Johns” (similar to multiple personalities) — one was a contractor, another a clown, one a politician, and the fourth went by the name Jack Hanley, and he did evil things.
Gacy confessed to more than 24 murders and drew a map to 28 graves under his house and garage. He also said he threw five others into the Des Plaines River.
He was executed with a lethal injection on May 10, 1994. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, Coke, French fries and strawberry shortcake. His last words were, “Kiss my ass.”
Identifying a Serial Killer's Victims
The worst serial killer in America calmly admitted his guilt as he led investigators to a crawl space under his house. There, John Wayne Gacy had buried twenty-eight young men, after brutally raping and murdering them in cold blood. Because no identification was found with the bodies, the police were forced to examine missing person reports for leads. However, these boys and men where so alike in age, race, and stature that the police were unable to make individual identifications for most of the victims. Clyde Snow, the world-renowned forensic anthropologist from Oklahoma, was asked to help the investigators make these difficult identifications.
Snow began by making a thirty-five point examination of each skull for comparison to known individuals. By examining each skeleton, he made sure each bone was correctly attributed to an individual. This was crucial to later efforts because some of the victims had been buried on top of older graves, mingling their remains. Once Snow was sure all the bones were sorted properly, he began his in-depth study. Long bones such as the femur (thigh bone) were used to estimate each individual's height. This helped narrow the search when attempting to match the victims with the descriptions of missing people.
After narrowing the possibilities to missing people fitting the general description, investigators consulted potential victims' hospital and dental records.Evidence of injury, illness, surgery, and other unique skeletal defects were used to make identifications. Snow also pointed out features that gave clues to the victim's behavior and medical history. For example, he discovered that one of Gacy's victims had an old fracture of his left arm, and that his left scapula (shoulder blade) and arm bore the telltale signs of a left-handed individual. These details were matched to a missing person report and another young victim was identified.
For the most difficult cases, Snow called in the help of forensic sculptor and facial reconstructionist Betty Pat Gatliff. She used clay and depth markers to put the flesh back on the faces of these forgotten boys in the hopes that someone would recognize them after their photographs were released to the media. Her efforts were successful, but investigators found some families unwilling to accept the idea that their loved ones were among Gacy's victims. Even with Gatliff's help, nine of Gacy's victims remain unidentified.
John Wayne Gacy (Killings between 1972 and 1978)
A respected member of the Junior Chamber of Commerce, a precinct captain in the local Democratic party, the owner of a contracting business and a performing joker at children’s parties, John Wayne Gacy seemed as normal as they come.
He came to be known as one of the most prolific serial killers in U.S. history.
Modus Operandi
Gacy lured his victims into handcuffs in the pretext of showing them a pair of trick handcuffs he used in his clown act. He’d then dare the youth to free themselves. Once the boys were handcuffed, he would use either a rope or a board across their throats to kill them while he raped them.
Background
Gacy was born into a blue-collar family in 1942 and had two sisters. His father was an abusive alcoholic who verbally and physically abused his children. Gacy deeply loved his father and strived to please him, but failed.
He had the ability to persuade an manipulate people, likely because of how normal and harmless he seemed on the outside. He later got married and had two kids of his own, but his wife left him when he was arrested for trying to coerce a fellow employee into homosexual acts.
Another thing to note is that he injured his head by falling off a swing when he was 11 years old. He suffered from blackouts until he was 16, and then was diagnosed with a blood clot and the condition was corrected.
Killings and Sentence
When Gacy realized that police were about to arrest him, he surrendered himself. He told them, “There are four Johns” (similar to multiple personalities) — one was a contractor, another a clown, one a politician, and the fourth went by the name Jack Hanley, and he did evil things.
Gacy confessed to more than 24 murders and drew a map to 28 graves under his house and garage. He also said he threw five others into the Des Plaines River.
He was executed with a lethal injection on May 10, 1994. His last meal consisted of fried chicken, Coke, French fries and strawberry shortcake. His last words were, “Kiss my ass.”